A 3D render of the Bellerophon created by Don Hawley, based on book descriptions. In lieu of official descriptions, the color scheme was inspired by the Terran Trade Authority series.
Another view of Don Hawley's model shows the Arc De Triomphe next to the entrance for scale.
This side view cutaway shows the Bellerophon's interior, with 8 bays per ring for a total of 864 bays as described in For We Are Many. Shows positions of Drive Ring (Purple) and Power Core (Red). Render by Don Hawley.
This cross section cutaway of the Bellerophon by Don Hawley shows a ring segmented into 8 bays, each with a door leading to the central access hallway.
The Bellerophon is an Others’ cargo ship, salvaged by the Bobs after the Battle of Delta Pavonis.
The ship is ten kilometers long and one km in diameter. Its interior volume is 78 million cubic meters. It has 864 cargo bays. Instead of using a fusion reactor, its drive uses the Casimir effect, which is a force that is created by fluctuations of a quantum field. From its design, Neil and Herschel deduce that The Others use a base-twelve number system.
It had been disabled in the Battle of Delta Pavonis and had floated through the system when Neil and Herschel find it on the other side of the system, in the Kuiper Belt. Its AMI has been destroyed, but it is mostly intact, with the reactor and power systems still functional.
After they get the power on, they name the ship Bellerophon after a monster-killing hero of Greek mythology. Bellerophon is also the name of the ship that brought colonists to Altair IV in the movie Forbidden Planet.f
Neil and Herschel use SURGE mover plates to power the ship to Earth and use it to evacuate the entire remaining human population before The Others attack. After the Battle of Terra, it carries the remaining humans in stasis pods, heading for 82 Eridani.
In Not Till We Are Lost, Neil and Herschel take the Bellerophon to Omicron2Eridani to help Will evacuate the 30,000 members of the Ever Onward society from Romulus. They then set course for deep in the galaxy, along a path that Will has been traveling. The plan is to disperse humanity beyond the small bubble of systems nearest to Sol.